When to quit news and freelance

newsshooter

Well-known member
I have a question for all of you. I've been in news over 15 years. I have lots of freelance experience and I've been through 4 markets and have worked my way up to a top 10. I do own some of my own gear and pick up jobs when I can. Lately, I've had to turn jobs down because of my daily news job. I'm not getting a ton of freelance due to people knowing I have a day job. When do I know when it's time to quit the news gig?
Ultimately I want to freelance and get out of "local news". I hear if I quit the news gig freelance will start coming. The economy isn't great and I'm still a little worried about picking up jobs. How is the market right now? Is it getting better?

What do I do and when do I know it's time to move on!!
 

Nino

Well-known member
There's no such thing as the right time to do it. The best suggestion is to get clients that you can serve when you have the free time. Clients that are flexible. You can try going into a part time paid position that would free enough time to start servicing clients. Or just dive in. Too many people today are forced to become freelancers because the jobs are gone.

First thing first, you are not becoming a freelancer, you are starting a business. You have to apply all the business rules first or you’ll end up like most making the move to freelancer, broke, deep in debt and eventually out of business trying to get your old job back.

Learn to put together a solid and honest business plan, that should become your daily bible. There are many books and softwares that will help you do that. Also read some books on starting a small service business, there are plenty of those. Lastly take some courses on small business management and administration. Those are usually available as adult education in most communities. Also look up SCORE, (www.score.org) they provide free consultation and they also conduct seminars.

What you’ll be hearing and reading will probably not go on very well; you should have at least 6 months, and preferably one year, of expenses set aside, some experts recommend two years. This because it will take long time, especially in this economy, for your business to come up to speed.

Next is marketing and that can vary from city to city. Freelancers to be successful must diversify their skills because you’ll never know what the next caller will need. Ask yourself, “can I handle successfully any type of assignment equally or better than my competitors?” You’ll never have a second change with a client. Screw up once or not provide what the client needs are and you are done.

Study your market and see where you can fit in. Remember that every market is over-saturated with freelancers looking for work and every potential client is bombarded with freelancers offering their services. Ask yourself this, “why should they hire me instead of them”? If you are thinking about going in as the cheaper guy then plan for a short career, cheap will work only until somebody cheaper comes along; nobody wins the price game.

Study the clients and come up with innovative ways that you can help hem. Don’t ask them what they need, tell them what they need. You are not there to take their money, you are there to help them make more money; you are not a salesman, you are a solution.

Of course to be successful in doing this you should study and take classes on marketing and sales techniques.
 

Icarus112277

Well-known member
When your regular gig is getting in the way of your freelance career.
Start freelancing on the side.
Make sure you have multiple, SOLID, clients.
When your freelance income becomes greater than your staff job, quit.
 

grinner

Well-known member
You'll know when it's time. Don't do it until you have ther client following to support it.
I recomend working in production for a while. With your experience in news, I'm sure you can get a staff job quickly in most any market as a videographer or a DP. You'll need or least want this experience and the contacts before you go freelance.
 

prosheditor

Well-known member
I have a question for all of you. I've been in news over 15 years. I have lots of freelance experience and I've been through 4 markets and have worked my way up to a top 10. I do own some of my own gear and pick up jobs when I can. Lately, I've had to turn jobs down because of my daily news job. I'm not getting a ton of freelance due to people knowing I have a day job. When do I know when it's time to quit the news gig?
Ultimately I want to freelance and get out of "local news". I hear if I quit the news gig freelance will start coming. The economy isn't great and I'm still a little worried about picking up jobs. How is the market right now? Is it getting better?

What do I do and when do I know it's time to move on!!
I agree with all the posters about holding off and working with both, at least for a while. If I were you, I wouldn't quit a full time job with a steady paycheck and benefits in these lean times. That door will slam behind you and your slot filled faster than you think. Also, NEVER go by what you hear. Everyone's situation is different and as you have to know by now there's alot of big talkers in this industry and what works for one may not work for you. It's possible that you are experiencing a false sense of security because the freelance work is adding work to your existing job making you feel like it's more than it really is. Just because you get booked with freelance work doesn't mean it is solid. Projects get delayed and canceled with little to no notice. During that time, there is NO income but the bills will keep coming. Have you actually followed up on all the "lost projects" due to your full time job to see if they actually materialized or if people got paid. Here's the worst part, just because you have a contract doesn't mean you'll get paid or paid in a reasonable time. Can you afford to pay a lawyer to collect on a debt without wiping out the amount being collected to pay that lawyer? My advice is to keep your paying job and work on freelance when you have the extra time. You'll be glad you did.
 

zac love

Well-known member
I would say in this job market take whatever you can get & don't quit anything.

There are a lot of very qualified people in this industry that have been laid off & there are a lot of employers who aren't hiring right now. Which means that the pool of workers is much larger than the paid work out there.

If you have the money for the gear & enough clients to make it worth your while then make the jump. But make sure that you've got a really solid plan & a wide enough base of clients so if one goes belly up, you still have some money coming in.

Though I would highly suggest keeping your day job & wait until the economy gets better & the HD cameras drop even lower in price before taking a risk in your finances.
 
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